Global air demand rises despite North American decline

Global air passenger demand rose by 3.3 per cent in March – as measured by revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) – compared with the same month in 2024, according to the latest analysis from airlines association IATA.

But IATA said that total capacity (available seat kilometres) “outpaced the demand expansion” at 5.3 per cent in March, leading to a 1.6 percentage point year-on-year fall in the month’s load factor to 80.7 per cent.

On a regional basis, airline demand in Europe rose by 4.4 per cent year-on-year in March while capacity was up by 6.4 per cent, which reduced overall load factor 1.5 points to 79.2 per cent.

But the North American market saw a 1.1 per cent fall in RPKs in March, despite capacity rising by 3.5 per cent….